20101126 Our November Newsletter

Dear family and friends,

As most of you already know we are back in the United States now. After arriving in the U.S. on November 13, we spent our first week back in Los Angeles debriefing with our missions agency Foursquare Missions International. During our second week back in the U.S., we attended the Autumn Leadership Conference at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, CA. We finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest on November 13.

Before leaving the island region of Papua New Guinea, we had an emotional journey saying goodbye to the people we love. During that time of transition, we also completely handed over the three and a half year old medical and evangelism ministry to the local Foursquare PNG leadership. We recently heard that our main nurse Jennifer Matkale (see picture) and the rest of the ministry team are stepping out to do their first medical and evangelism outreach to a poor plantation area filled with displaced people on the 29th and 30th of this month. Please pray for unity, discernment, protection, and divine appointments. They need prayer coverage.

Last month, we hosted a visiting team from Northwest Church and had planned to do a medical outreach. After arriving at the medical outreach venue, we learned that there was an active tribal conflict and then a heavy monsoon arrived so we had to cancel the outreach altogether. After praying with the team, we felt directed to spend the time instead inviting specific leaders over to our house to hear their hearts and pray over them. While the team was here, we did participate with them in a children’s program at a very remote small Foursquare church. The team also participated in a youth outreach and even performed worship songs. The team also had an opportunity to speak to the Foursquare women at the Kokopo Town Church.

There were several divine appointments with people during the time that the Northwest Church team was with us in PNG and so, here are some of their stories. Two of the ladies we met with were widows. Their husbands had been Foursquare pastors and now they were struggling to feed and educate their children. When husbands die in PNG, as in other third world countries, their families often don’t have any resources because they already live below the poverty level. Northwest Church provided the funding for each of the widows to receive a sewing machine and supplies. It was so wonderful to be a part of helping entire families. Now the ladies can make clothes for themselves and their children and they can sell extra garments at the local outdoor markets – to pay for food, kerosene and school fees. They all were so very grateful and cried and thanked “Papa God” for providing for them (see picture).

The team also had the opportunity to meet with Doreen Nebif who is a young single PNG lady who has a heart for missions (see picture). She is preparing to go to Syria for 2-3 years to work with Operation Mobilisation. She is full of the Holy Spirit and regularly helps us on the medical outreaches as a pharmacy assistant. When I’ve worked with her in the pharmacy section, she would often gently motion to me that she sensed the Holy Spirit directing her to pray or talk with different people that passed through our line. So, we stopped and pulled that person aside and took time to pray over them and several of them gave their hearts to Jesus or poured out personal pain so we could join them in prayer. These were wonderful God filled appointments! Doreen has endured many trials and she has demonstrated humility in submitting to Pastors in a culture that often overlooks women. We ask you to join us in praying for her as she steps out to serve in the Middle East.

Pastor Willy is a young pastor we have mentioned before. He went to business school and then heard the Gospel message and gave his heart to Jesus. There was a great and urgent need to fill a position in a very remote area and he chose the pastorate over business school. He is the same young man who asked God what he could do to help his community and God directed him to start digging pit toilets. Digging pit toilets in a very hot climate is a daunting task and so people would come by and ask him why he was doing it. He was able to share that God loves them and wants the best for them. This attitude has given him great favor with everyone in his area including non-Christians. Now his heart is to go to Bible school and learn more. He wants to articulate the Gospel more clearly and possibly do even more children’s evangelism.

Our youth outreach consisted of inviting all the teenagers from Kokopo Foursquare district to come for an afternoon of competitive volleyball and then an evening service. The youth in PNG love to play volley ball. After playing, all the teams sit down together and share large vats of ice cream that we bring in from town. They used bits of bamboo and sticks to scoop it up with. Then everyone washes up as it is very hot and tropical and come together for a service at night. We, the Northwest Church team and us, sang two songs – one in Tok Pisin and the other in English – at the evening service and then other churches and groups of people did various dances and songs (see picture).

The next day we went to Wat Wat, a small and more remote village, to support Pastor Lydia and Pastor Willy as they did a children’s outreach. We took a teenager from the Kokopo Town Church named Natasha to help us. The children in Wat Wat were quick to respond to the truth about Jesus who loves them. You can tell they were hungry for God. It was great seeing Pastor Willy preaching. He has a real anointing to work with children (see picture).

The Northwest Church team was really helpful as we began the process of saying good bye. It took some time for the people to process that we were leaving and it took some time for us to process our leaving as well. The temptation is to withdraw your heart so you don’t hurt so much. With the help of God and our friends, though, we tried our best to stay engaged and really said goodbye to the people and let them say goodbye to us. We spent many hours letting people talk and cry and we cried with them. We also prayed for them and let them pray for us.

The day before we actually left there was a combined farewell church service for us that lasted 6 hours. During the service, Victor preached on the Great Commission and then he prayed out two Bible School students. All the Pastors and congregations we had worked with from all of the 18 churches in the East New Britain Foursquare Province came to say goodbye. There were many “items” - the so-called presentation of items in the service - of good bye songs, songs about the Rapture, and traditional songs changed to reflect the transformation of Jesus in their lives yet done in traditional garb with homemade bamboo instruments and dancing. Arms and legs of dancers had special leaves on them and feathers. In PNG, you say goodbye privately but also publically as they are tribal people. So, we would be called up and each church presented gifts to us and they acknowledged the church plants that grew out of the medical and evangelism outreaches. Then they would hug us and wail and cry. We ran out of tears at the end. After the service, we shared in a pig that had been cooked and we all sat down to eat together. People came to the airport to see us off and called us by phone for even a few days after we left just to tell us that they loved us and would miss us. Very gut wrenching (see picture).

Since coming back to the U.S., the most natural and common question we hear now is “What are you going to do now?” We want to do what God has for us. He has told us that He has another assignment for us and so we are praying and listening. We are re-entering the American culture and we have been radically changed from our time in PNG. We have been privileged to learn and work with the Holy Spirit and we have witnessed God’s faithfulness and constant provision along the way despite hardships. Also, we know that none of this could have happened without all of you who prayed for us and supported us. Anything that we have done for Christ, we have done it together with all of you. THANK YOU for letting us be your hands extended. Thank you too for your continued support.

Here are our prayer requests:

1. Please pray for the upcoming medical and evangelism outreach on November 29-30. It is the first outreach without us for the national team.
2. Please pray for the remaining 2010 and the 2011 schedule of medical/evangelism outreaches. Kindly pray for unity, Godly wisdom, and signs and wonders to confirm the Gospel message especially.
3. Please pray for continued discipleship and growth in the church in PNG island region and boldness to live the life of a disciple.
4. Please pray for re-entry for Victor, Alex and I and our relationships here as we catch up with those we haven’t had much contact with in the last 3 1/2 years.
5. Please for wisdom and revelation for us to know God more and hear and obey Him especially as we seek direction for our next step.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100928 Our September Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a busier than usual time here since our last newsletter.

The first item to report on is our last medical outreach to Pastor Willie’s village called Gar. We were planning to sail there by our “banana boat” - that is what the people here call our 23 foot fiberglass boat equipped with a 40 h.p. outboard motor – but before our departure we had a check about going by boat and so we drove there instead. The drive took us two and one half hours down the south coast here in East New Britain and we had to ford three rivers. One river was particularly deep at about four feet, but we made it through without incident. As we drove down the coast, the weather took a turn and there were heavy winds with lots of rain. The seas were as about as high as we have see them here with huge swells and big waves, and so God’s protection became evident once again.

All in all, we saw 425 patients during the three day medical outreach (see pictures). The weather wasn't that great and it kept many people from coming. The area is a hard-to-get-to remote area and vehicles hardly ever pass through the region. Nevertheless, there were some divine appointments in store for us. In addition to doing HIV/AIDS and malaria awareness teaching, we took the opportunity to evaluate twelve inpatients at the local aid post. The aid post was severely understaffed and there was not much to offer patients in terms of healthcare, so I (Victor) did “haus-sik” (hospital) rounds on each patient and made several suggestions for treatment. There was one youth “meri” (girl) who had an issue with bleeding and she was in shock and quite unstable with advance anemia so we aggressively treated her. Even though we started two intravenous lines, pushed fluids, and gave her several medications it was evident that she was not improving. So, I asked her if another pastor and I could pray for her and she agreed. We then we laid hands on her in front of her family and prayed that God would heal her and then provide some kind of transport for her to the Kokopo Town hospital. Almost immediately, her vital signs stabilized and “out of the blue” we found a vehicle already on the way to Town who would transport her. I found out later that she continued to improve at the Town hospital. Thanks so much for your prayers. God truly is a miracle-working God.

We also had the privilege of leading a water baptismal service both at Pastor Willie’s village in Gar last month and in Rabaul Town this month. The Rabaul Town church baptism was especially remarkable. After coming back up from being immersed in water 22 of the 26 people being baptized sensed God’s power and presence like never before. All of them need help getting back to shore at which point most of them spontaneously praised God in song and in prayer in heart-felt worship. It is kind of hard to explain what I am talking about because we are talking about God’s powerful presence and His awesome power, but suffice it to say that that service is something we will always remember (see pictures).

We also had a three day leadership training for pastors and leaders on “giving” (see picture). We had leaders on all levels – national, regional, and provincial – speak at the retreat. I had the privilege to teach on the biblical principles that guide our giving and it touched many who were in attendance. One of the things I shared in my teaching was how I learned to be content and trust God with the money that came our way. Before becoming a Christian, money controlled me so much that I used to hide money all the time. It was a secret life that I had and my little treasures (stores of money) could be found just about anywhere – under the mattress, in the glove box in the car, in the closet, etc. So, if you wanted to know where my heart was, all you had to do was look under the mattress or in the glove box or in the closet to find my treasure. Then, I shared how God showed me through his word (Heb. 13:5, especially) how to be content and trust Him in all money matters. After the teaching, the provincial supervisor told me that he thought that only people in Papua New Guinea hid money. As he spoke, you could tell that he had been especially touched by God through the teaching. He was now content with what he had and he now had had a trust in God with money that he didn't have before.

In addition to working as a nurse here, Lori has continued to be very active in ministry. On Tuesdays, she teaches two ladies how to read and write basic Tok Pisin. She was recently invited to speak at the year-end United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) provincial meeting. She spoke on discipleship. Alexander is doing well in home-school. Last month, we had to mail his 2009 school portfolio to the U.S. and even though the parcel had the wrong address on it, it made it to his advisor.

Family and friends, we are also writing you to let you know that we will be returning to the U.S. on 29 October 2010. About six months ago, we sensed that God was preparing us for some kind of change, but we did not know what that was at first. So, we began to pray and it became clear early on that the work that God had for us here would be completed soon. So, for some time now, we have been in the process of wrapping up things here and are doing our best to “finish well.”

We have already begun to transition the medical ministry to the leaders here. Ps. John Puia, our Provincial Supervisor, wants to continue the medical ministry that we have set up and so we have been working with all involved to bring about a smooth transition. We have been meeting weekly with our main nurse, Jennifer Matkale, and she will continue to staff the medical outreaches and update the medicines and supplies after we are gone. Jennifer now has an e-mail account so she will be able to contact us if she has questions after we leave. We have set up all the necessary relationships and networks – church, government, community, and medical - that are needed to continue the medical ministry. We also have an especially close relationship with the East New Britain Provincial Community Development office and the Governor's office.

The boat which Northwest Church and other donors so generously funded will soon have a canopy frame and canvas and it will stay with the medical ministry here in East New Britain. Now the ministry staff, worship, and medical teams will have some cover from the elements during future outreaches.

There is one last request. We would like for you to kindly pray about and consider supporting us financially and with prayer through the beginning of February 2011. The missions council at Northwest Church has suggested that we make this request and you can refer to them for guidelines if you would like. We will need some time to adjust and re-enter before we start a job and we are still praying about what God would have us do when we get back to the U.S.

Our prayer requests:

• Pray for our next medical outreach in October and for our time with the visiting Northwest Church team.
• Pray for our Provincial supervisor, Ps. John Puia, and for our head nurse, Jennifer Metkale, as they assume full responsibility for the medical and evangelism ministry.
• Pray for us as we begin to debrief and as we begin the re-entry process.
• Pray for wisdom about our next assignment and job.
• Pray for provision for the next few months especially.

We wanted to thank you again for partnering with us and for the honor and privilege to work with the Foursquare leadership here in Papua New Guinea and in the PNG island region especially. We love the people here so much (see picture). We will be leaving here completely changed people compared to when we first came here. We look forward to seeing all of you again in early November 2010. It will be great to spend the holiday season with friends and family once again.

Blessings and love to you all,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100718 Our July Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

June and July are times of graduations, weddings and vacations in the states. Here in the islands it means that everything is at full swing. The school year, for the few fortunate ones that can afford school feels and uniforms, starts in February and goes until December here in East New Britain.

Thank you for all of you that labored in prayer for the large reconciliation service we had last month (see pictures). Many hours of preparatory work was involved with meetings to clarify and define what were the goals and responsibilities of each party involved. What a time of learning and modeling of humility to everyone involved. Many government and community leaders attended. At the actual time of publically repenting the Pastors began to hug and cry and a wave of wailing rose up from the attending congregation. All of us had tears in our eyes as God restored relationships here in a culture where relationship is everything. The rifts of relationships cause such great social disharmony here. It had been 10 years since the involved local Pastor became independent and broke away from Foursquare . Many hundreds of people were affected not only at the time of the split with splinter groups and fractured families but it also was like a unhealed wound that just kept festering. In the service, it was made clear that Foursquare and the pastor would respectfully remain separate as far as ministry was concerned but at least have a relationship with one another. We have witnessed people calling out to one another in the market when in the past the two parties would turn away in silence. So there is fruit from the reconciliation. The Pastors have told us that there has been a change up and down the villages on the affected “Bitapaka” road.

For various reasons, it is taking some time for the changing leadership here to catch the vision for a Bible school in our Province. So in the meantime, we have been helping some young people apply for Bible school in other parts of PNG. One young man, Tony from our Ralabung village Foursquare church, is sensing God leading him towards missionary work. He is in the process of raising money to go to the Bible school in the highlands Enga Province and he will have more contact with the national Foursquare missionaries there. There are two more people that we have identified that have a desire to go to Bible school but we are prayerfully waiting on God to proceed.

We had an intensive 3-day women’s conference for leaders and Pastors here at the Kokopo town church (see picture). It started at 8:30 am and went to 10:30pm. Almost all the women stayed on site sleeping on blue tarps that were made into makeshift bedrooms with bush mats for wall and additional tarps overhead on bamboo poles. They looked like matchsticks in a box as they were packed in so close. For breakfast, they had tea and hard “biscuits”. They would snack fresh peanuts from the gardens and later they all ate a meal together of; taro, tapioca and “cao-cao” (sweet potato). These are all root vegetables cooked over an open fire. There is one water pipe at the church and this is used for washing clothing and people. It was great seeing ladies from all over the many islands here. Some I hadn’t seen for a couple years due to the cost of travel. Three women from Madang, Lae and Enga towns came to speak and they included me as part of the national teaching team. I ended up speaking all three days. The Holy Spirit was very present and there was a breaking through of barriers of sorts. This is the kind of unity that we have been praying for. The women asked questions and continued to give feedback as to how God met them and was teaching them so many new things. So it was really wonderful to be a part of all that that was going on.

Victor and I had the honor helping to support a young Pastor. This really was a God appointment as we were part of helping with a very culturally sensitive situation. Some older people told this pastor that there was a lady that had asked God to show her who she was to marry. The young lady apparently had a long complicated dream, and then later identified Willy as the man she was suppose to marry. The lady’s “line,” or extended family connection, then presented this situation to the young pastor and then expected him to negotiate the bride price and marry this particular lady. Our young pastor, Pastor Willy, came to us originally for prayer about this. He was under the impression that he must do what older people told him to do or else he was disobeying God himself. So, he was in a crisis of faith. We spoke with him for a very long time, prayed over him, and counseled him that he must pray and hear God for himself in this decision. He must obey God and not even us. So, for 6 months he prayed and we prayed. The older leaders from the young lady’s “line” then brought her to meet Pastor Willy and finalize marriage plans. Pastor Willy came back to our house and explained that he had faithfully been praying, and that he just did not have peace about this marriage. We opened our home that night and invited all the parties involved. I cooked a large PNG meal and, then, over tea and banana cake we got to know the lady who had had the dream. She told us her dream firsthand and we strongly sensed that it was very much not from God but it was not the appropriate time to confront her on that issue. We explained to her and her line that we had been praying for 6 months about God’s will for marriage both for her and for Willy and that we wanted God’s best for both of them. Then, Pastor Willy was able to voice that he did not have peace about the marriage and could not in good conscious go through with it. This is very big in this culture where posturing and rituals take the place of honest heart talk. With the grace of God, the young lady and the men from her line who were present voiced that they were at peace about the outcome and the way it was handled. We gave each party involved some gifts and then Victor drove them back to the church. Pastor Willy looked very much like he was himself again and we have since then met with all involved and they seem content. What an experience.

We have had other experiences that have not turned out as well. One Pastor, who had to be placed on discipline for beating his wife, failed to be accountable under discipline and he stopped coming to the pastor’s meetings. He also would not return our phone calls and, so, we prayed and prayed and asked God to uncover and expose what was really going on. Shortly after that we found out he was having an affair. The affair has not been his first and it is now public knowledge. We thank God for protecting us and helping us and for all your prayers.

Last but not least, we finished a two day medical and evangelism outreach yesterday at a poor settlement in the area called Raniolo (see pictures). These are displaced people from all over PNG. There isn’t even any kind of a shelter available there so we set up under a very large tree to try to get some shade. We brought 2 nurses, Jenny and her brother Jerome, some Pastors for worship, and various youths for the wound station. Doreen, a young PNG girl that is going to Syria for 2 years next January to work as a missionary also came to help in the Pharmacy. Doreen is a great help and led two women to Christ as we were giving out medications. It was great! The people in this settlement do not have access to fresh water and so they have more skin infections, fungal, ulcers and intestinal worms. This is the place where we saw “elephantitis” 2 years ago for those of you that are interested in medical things. Elephantitis is when a specific parasite blocks venous return from the lower leg and the appendage swells to unbelievable proportions. We saw approximately 650 people. Many were children very sick with dehydration and malaria. On the first night of the evangelism outreach 35 people responded to the Gospel message and many where children. During the second night, spiritual opposition was especially heavy with equipment malfunctions, etc. During the worship time, a large snake traveling across the barren ground disrupted all who were present.

Here are our prayer requests:

• For those who continue to walk out reconciliation.
• Godly wisdom
• Divine appointments
• Protection physically, emotionally and spiritually.
• Our next medical and evangelism outreach in Gar the end of this month (three days)
• Nathan – our eldest son in Washington state

It is a real honor and privilege to partner with you to serve the Papua New Guinea island region. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great Things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100522 Our May Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been an exceptionally busy time here for us since our last newsletter.

One of the large mobile phone carriers here in PNG has recognized our medical ministry. Last month, their Board of Directors approved an 85,000 kina (30,000 U.S. Dollar) sponsorship package which will enable us to purchase advanced life support emergency medical equipment, medications, and outreach supplies like tents and a cooking stove for the medical and evangelism team. In addition to this, our vehicle will be outfitted with a sturdy commercial grade roof rack and basket to carry our outreach cargo and our 23 foot banana boat will be outfitted with a canopy.

We had a medical outreach last month to a poor and remote bush area (see pictures). The outreach to 341 patients was held in one of the more dangerous areas in the Province. In addition to seeing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in action, all who attended also heard about Jesus Our Savior and Healer. Three nurses from the Kokopo Town Haus Sik (hospital) accompanied us and gave hygiene and cholera awareness teaching (see picture). As usual, a worship and evangelism team of pastors joined us for the outreach. Signs and wonders continue to attend our outreaches. One patient was brought to us in a truck because she could not walk due to shortness of breath and we assessed her at the “truck-side” (see picture). We prayed for her and she felt better right away but still, we advised her family that she be taken to the hospital for further evaluation. We learned later that she was never taken to town that day because her shortness of breath completely abated after prayer. Another patient we saw presented to us with an active “fit” which did not medically look like usual seizure activity. Upon a quick review of her medical history, her long history of “fits” had been refractory to all kinds of anti-seizure medications. But after the pastors and Victor commandingly prayed for her, the “fit” stopped altogether. She re-dedicated her life to Jesus and is now attending church again.

After just a few months of planning, the Kokopo Town Foursquare Church had a “handover/takeover” service earlier this month. Pastor Timothy Tipitap, the PNG national Foursquare president, presided over the service and he appointed a new senior pastor to the Town Church. Our new Town pastor is experienced in re-developing churches and he is also the secretary of the PNG National Executive Council (NEC). His wife is the PNG National Foursquare United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) Director. At the service, the outgoing pastor symbolically hands a Bible to the incoming pastor as the President prays over them (see picture). It was also interesting to listen to Pastor Timothy speak about how Foursquare has been in the highlands and other regions of PNG now for over 50 years, but in contrast, Foursquare has only had a presence in the island region for the last 20 years. Our incoming pastors and outgoing pastors and the congregation really need a lot of prayer at this time so please lift them all up in prayer.

We continue to be heavily involved in leadership training and reconciliation work. At our last meeting with the pastors and their spouses earlier this month, we used the book of Lamentations to teach on the pastoral work of ‘”pain-sharing.” Here in Papua New Guinea, the family and community-oriented people have no difficulty expressing their pain and grief in public like at funerals, etc. but just like every where else even the leaders here often find it difficult share pain and grieve with their spouses and families in a more private setting. As we have written about before and after several months of prayerful planning, the Provincial Foursqaure leaders here in East New Britain will be reconciling with a former Foursquare pastor tomorrow. We will have pictures and write more on the reconciliation service next time, but for now we would like to thank all of you who prayed for the reconciliation. We believe that this is an important service that the Holy Spirit will use to bring much needed healing and revival to the area.

Here are our prayer requests:

That spiritual opposition like strongholds and idolatry would be broken down here in the PNG island region.

· For unity and love inter-denominationally.

· For continued protection from disease and violence.

· Help for Alex with his school load.

· Guidance for the future outreaches and courage and boldness to do what God asks of us.

· For Nathan, our oldest son, who lives in the U.S.

We wish you all a wonderful Memorial Day holiday. We join you especially in remembering those who gave up their lives so that we could have the freedom we have. Thanks for your prayers and your support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Expect Great Things from God

Attempt Great Things for God

William Carey

20100408 Our April Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s 10 am here. This is the first hot dry day we have had for a while so all the meri’s (women) are hanging their laundry outside to dry. Our neighbors are using a long pointed bamboo pole to knock coconuts out of the tree so they can use it for cooking. An 8 year old is balancing on a fence to reach the small round fruit from a nearby tree. You can smell outdoor fires and spices. Alex has had his pancakes and is working on his science test. Victor is in Kokopo town teaching at a Pastor’s meeting. A Pastor stops by for medical advice and prayer so I give her some food and we talk and pray. There isn’t anything I can do medically so I prayed over her. She smiled and told me that earlier this morning she was having pain and prayed and saw a picture of my face and that is why she came to the house. The two of us then worshipped God together and thanked Him for being our Healer. After worship, she told me the pain was gone and she felt healed.

Due to various circumstances, we had to prayerfully adjust much of our planned schedule last month. We had planned to sail down the south coast of East New Britain to do a water baptism and church dedication service and to do a combined medical and evangelism outreach at Pastor Willy’s church, but due to flooding in the area the church building construction was not fully completed. So, we have postponed the outreach until Pastor Willy is ready for us. That didn’t hold us back from continuing our medical ministry, however. We are now in the process of doing a community entry visit in a very poor and dangerous area and are planning a medical and evangelism outreach there later this month. A son of a Foursquare congregation member was murdered in the area on Easter Sunday. So, please pray for us as we prepare and go there to do God’s work. We will be partnering with Pastor Leonard and his wife (see picture from earlier).

God’s healing activity and His miracle work in the medical ministry we do here continues to amaze us. One of our main PNG nurses Jenny recently called us to come to a local health centre to see her gravely ill father. She sailed sixteen hours to go get her father and bring him back here to the health centre. When we saw him he looked acutely and seriously ill and nearly in shock. After a thorough physical examination and review of the medical chart, it appeared that the man had internal bleeding due to a perforated gastric (stomach) ulcer. After making some medication adjustments, we advised that he be transferred to the local government hospital in Rabaul as soon as possible. Before we left, though, we laid hands on him and prayed for a miracle healing of the hole in his stomach. Then we prayed for the other sick people in the ward. Two days later we received a call from Jenny who told us that her father was indeed transferred to the government hospital, but that his condition markedly improved shortly after we prayed for him. After we spoke to Jenny, we went to the hospital to visit her dad. When we arrived, everyone was all smiles (see pictures). Jenny hugged us hard and told us that a miracle had occurred. Her father was almost completely back to normal. We were quite taken back because two days ago we medically felt that the man would most likely die unless God intervened. But there he was sitting up smiling, happy to see us. Victor did a great job of explaining that all we did was to ask God to heal him – It was God who did the miracle and healed him.

There continues to be quite a bit of reconciling work for us here. As you may recall from our last few newsletters, we are working to reconcile with a former Foursquare pastor who caused a church split a while back. At the recent PNG Foursquare national convention in Goroka, we spoke with national executive council (NEC) members about our progress with the pastor and they gave us their input. We will be meeting with the pastor next week for another meeting. In addition to this reconciling work, the leadership here have asked us to meet with several married couples to counsel them and to teach on one particular aspect of marriage next month. One of the couples we are meeting soon are Foursquare pastors. Thanks for your continued prayers on the reconciling work we are doing here.

The leadership in Foursquare PNG Island region is currently in a state of transition. We have a new Regional Foursquare supervisor and member of the Foursquare national executive council will be coming here next month to pastor the Kokopo Town church. It is quite likely too that the current East New Britain Provincial supervisor will be replaced soon. So, needless to say, we have been quite busy the last two months helping the incoming and outgoing leaders with the transition. Most of the transition work we are doing has been mainly in the area of pastoral care-giving. God has used us to bring stabilization to the Town church and to the Province during the transition and to help with administrative details surrounding the transition. Some people here are quite anxious about the changes that are taking place and will be taking place but the Great Shepherd is reassuring them that they can trust Him, even with change.

Regular Leadership Training continues here and the pastors are strongly participating in the teachings (see picture). We continue to follow and monitor the progress of the pastor’s Leadership Training Groups (LTG’s) and we heavily emphasize character and integrity in the pastor’s personal, marriage, and family lives. One of the goals we have for the LTG’s is for the pastors to eventually disciple their congregations and their small home groups through the LTG’s. We also continue to have regular speaking and preaching engagements and our schedule is filled up for the next two months.

We have had some strange electrical problems. The electrical outlet for our washing machine stopped working in mid cycle, the refrigerator outlet stopped working, and the electrical box on the outside of our house quit working. Sometimes, we have no electricity what so ever even though everyone around us has power and at times the clock on the wall goes backwards. We have had some sort of water leak and have dribbles of water running down two walls of our bathroom but we haven’t been able to convince the owners to come and fix it. But in each instance God has helped us and now things seem to be working well. Even on Easter Sunday evening, and after praying and asking God for help, we had two men from PNG Power come to our house at 9pm to connect us to another power line.

Alex and I were recently issued new U.S. passports (as our old ones expired) but they remain in Port Moresby until our PNG visas are processed.

Here are our prayer requests:

1. That people would come to Christ through our work here and be healed spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
2. That the Kingdom of God would move forward in the PNG island area.
3. That there would be a smooth Foursquare leadership transition here in the PNG island region.
4. For Alex as he does his High School work. We are often interrupted by lack of electricity and other distractions persist.
5. For Nathan who remains in the U.S. and is still recovering from knee surgery.
6. That our PNG visa’s would be completed and returned safely to us as soon as possible.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20100229 Our February Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends:

This has been an unusual month and we have had God work in unexpected ways.

Many of you know that we have been fasting and praying for the last three years for a spiritual breakthrough here in regards to a previous Foursquare leader who has continued to inflict much harm and damage in our area. Within the last two months God has opened doors for the process of addressing this unresolved conflict. We are praying for healing and restoration for all those that have been affected. It has been great to see our pastors respond so positively to the process. Our pastors’ countenances are changing and we are seeing more hope and confidence in the faces of the pastors that only God can bring about. We kept the minutes from the last two meetings with the pastor and recently presented the findings to the PNG Foursquare National Executive Council (NEC). The NEC was quite pleased with the work that is being done here. The pastor is ready to publically apologize to the Foursquare leaders here and we plan to hold a formal reconciliation service and in April or May 2010. Thanks for your continued prayers in this area.

In preparation for our next medical outreach in March, we went down the south coast for about three hours to do a community-entry visit in a place called Gar. Pastor Willy, one of our younger pastors, is the pastor of the church there (see picture). Earlier on in Pastor Willy’s pastorate, he asked God what he could do for his community and God directed him to dig twenty pit toilets in a few months time for the community. In the heat and the humidity here that is a heavy labor, but after that the people’s hearts were so softened that the church in Gar grew in number. Because of a recent influx of cults in the area, Pastor Willy’s church has been struggling a bit and so we are going there to do a medical and evangelism outreach. We will formally dedicate a new church building and hold a water baptism service at the beach as well (see picture).

We have also finalized the East New Britain Province Foursquare ministry calendar for the year. Papa God has so many exciting plans for the Province. Our ever growing medical ministry will continue regular outreaches to remote areas in the PNG island region. Other highlights of the calendar include the regional United Foursquare Women’s (UFW) meeting which will be held in Kokopo later this year and continued Leadership Training for the pastors and leaders. Sponsorship for a provincial radio ministry is now in place and our radio program will begin shortly as well.

This month was a busy Leadership Training month. Our focus for some time now has been on the leader’s spirituality and the need for healing through repentance and forgiveness in the life of the leader. And as we have given examples of how God has healed areas in our own personal lives, the pastors are becoming increasingly open to us about areas in their lives that need healing. They are personally seeing that God is their Healer and that He cares about their past wounds.

Finally, we just returned from the Foursquare National Convention in Goroka in the Eastern Highlands Province (see picture). It was great to be with the pastors and leaders from all over Papua New Guinea again. In addition to fellowshipping with the pastors and leaders at the meeting, several pastors and leaders accepted our invitations to participate in our youth and children’s programs in our Province this year. We had a great time “storying” with them and laughing with them.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We realize the sacrifice you are making to set aside time to pray and to support us financially even in tough financial times.

Blessings,

Victor and Lori and Alexander Obregon

Attempt Great Things For God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey

20100127 Our January Newsletter

Dear family and friends:

As we start this year it seems fitting to just mention a few of the ways God has watched over us and helped us through the last twelve months: He has protected us from injury and disease though it is all around us. The hot ash that falls over us from the volcano across the bay has stopped. Now the vegetation, and our lungs can breathe clear air. The airport is open and the airplanes are bringing in food, supplies and mail. The many drunks we encounter have not harmed us. God has frequently guided us in ways that we have been able to avoid dangerous high seas. We have witnessed miraculous healings and most of all people of all ages giving their hearts and lives to Jesus. These are just a few of the many ways God has cared for us and many of them are direct answers to your prayers. So celebrate with us as we celebrate with you.

Nathan, our son, had his right knee repair with hamstring graft one week ago and is doing well. He is slowly but surely recovering. We are grateful to have this surgery behind us. The Doctor told us he may have some excruciating pain after the surgery but because of your prayers he did not experience that and though is of course uncomfortable at times, he is managing well.

The work here in PNG continues with accountability groups and pastoral care teaching in practical ways like: conflict management, speaking the truth in love, forgiveness, letting go of offenses, loving your spouse, children and neighbors.

A very important reconciliation is now in process. Victor and I have been praying for this to occur for the last three years along with some of the local Pastors. There was a problem years ago due to an unhealthy leader in the one of the larger churches that caused fractured groups and difficulties within the community. This is very unsettling for the people as there wasn’t any resolution to the conflict. Please pray with us as this much needed restoration process continues. That God will be exalted, that the enemy will be evicted and that the people who have been hurt and affected by this would be healed and restored. It is time for a breakthrough and hope for all those that love Jesus and all those that are longing for the truth. I can’t stress how important this is for the island area of PNG.

In addition to holding another market evangelism outreach this month (see picture), we also held a medical outreach to our Foursquare youth and did many health checks for all those enrolling in vocational schools (see picture).

January also is a time to pray, plan, and hear God’s heart for His plans for the next year. We have been praying with the Provincial Supervisor and it looks as though there is an opening for a radio ministry, many more medical and evangelism outreaches, and strategic targeting of all people of all ages. Exciting times! This is going to be a good year.

We have some wonderful news and some sad news. The wonderful news is that Chris, the deaf mute man that was healed from Mandres, is progressing well and his speech is coming along quite well. The sad news is the Foursquare pastor from that area died. Pastor Felix was a man of integrity and often guided our banana boat when we went on our outreaches (see picture). He is survived by his wife Dorcas and two children Grace and Amos. Please continue to pray for Pastor Felix’s family as it is very difficult for widows and children in this culture when the father dies. At the funeral, Pastor Felix’s family wanted to thank you for praying for him when he was sick.

Kindly pray for the following:

· Nathan’s continued recovery after his knee surgery.

· The reconciliation efforts in the region.

· Smooth sailing and low seas for our community-entry visits and major medical outreaches this year.

· For safe travel to the national Foursquare convention in Goroka in February.

· For continued wisdom for the year 2010.

Thanks again for your e-mails, prayers, and support. It really is a privilege to partner with you to serve the people here in the Papua New Guinea islands (see picture).

Blessings,

Victor, Lori, and Alex Obregon

Attempt Great Things for God

Expect Great Things From God

William Carey